JK Assembly Ruckus: NC stages a sit-in outside; Congress walks out

Congress members walk out of J&K assembly over law and order

Srinagar: The opposition Congress members on Wednesday walked out of the Jammu and Kashmir legislative assembly during its on-going session after the speaker turned down the party’s adjournment motion to discuss law and order situation. JK Assembly Ruckus JK Assembly Ruckus

As the assembly started its day’s sitting here, Congress members stood up at their seats, displaying placards that read “Stop innocent killings”.

The members sought an adjournment of the normal proceedings so that the law and order situation in the state could be discussed in the house.

Speaker Kavinder Gupta said he would look into the adjournment motion later, but this did not satisfy the Congress members who walked out of the house shouting slogans that innocent people were being killed due to border firing in the state.

CPI-M member Yusuf Tarigami and Hakim Yaseen, Independent, requested the speaker to revoke the suspension of two National Conference members so that the opposition could play its role in the house.

Chief Minister Mufti Muhammad Sayeed also requested the speaker to look into the suspension order, saying the opposition has a role to play and the assembly is for debate on issues since democracy is all about a battle of ideas.

Meanwhile, Independent member Engineer Rashid jumped into the well of the house, accusing the speaker of bias.

He also said it has become a case of tacit understanding between the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the National Conference to share power by turns in the state. JK Assembly Ruckus

The Independent member almost came to blows with a Bharatiya Janata Party member during the course of his accusations, but ruling PDP members requested the speaker to allow Engineer Rashid to have his say.

National Conference protests suspension of its lawmakers

The opposition National Conference (NC) legislators, including former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah, on Wednesday staged a sit-in outside the state legislature here to protest the suspension of its four lawmakers.

“We are protesting against the suspension of four of our legislators from the session. Until the suspension of our legislators is revoked, we will continue to sit on protest,” Abdullah said.

“All we demanded yesterday (Tuesday) was information on what was the defence of the state government planned in a petition in the court against article 35A.”

Article 35A pertains to the special status of Jammu and Kashmir state in the Union of Indian states.
“The state government does not want any opposition in the house…,” Abdullah, who isthe president of the opposition NC, told reporters during the sit-in by his party’s legislators.

NC legislators wore black stripes around their arms to highlight their protest.

After he could not restore order in the legislative assembly despite repeated intervention by the security staff to prevent opposition lawmakers from storming into the well of the house, Speaker Kavinder Gupta on Tuesday suspended two NC lawmakers, Altaf Ahmad Kaloo and Abdul Majeed Larmi, for the rest of the session.

Following ruckus by NC legislators in the state legislative council, the chairman also suspended two NC legislators, Ali Muhammad Dar and Showkat Ahmad, for the remaining period of the session.

Omar Abdullah later said on his twitter handle that the NC would not attend the remaining period of the legislature session to protest the suspension of its members.

The autumn session of state’s bicameral legislature started here on October 3 and will end on October 10.

Including former chief minister Omar Abdullah and senior leaders Ali Muhammad Sagar, Mubarak Gul and others, the NC legislators sat on a dharna a day after it decided to boycott rest of the assembly session.

2 NC members have been suspended for the rest of the session. We will boycott the rest of the session,” Omar tweeted yesterday.

Altaf Kalloo and Adul Majid Larni were suspended for continuously disrupting the proceedings in the House following the Speaker’s refusal to hold a discussion on Article 35A that upholds special status of permanent residents of J&K.